As a managed service provider (MSP) or IT consultant, your bottom line depends on having the right tools at the right prices to maintain your margins while still providing the resources and functionality your clients need. And you’ve likely seen the resources and functionality your clients need changing over the past few years towards an increased focus on cybersecurity and disaster recovery.
More and more companies are hiring remotely, which means increased security risks, ransomware attacks on small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have increased, and severe natural disasters are threatening on-premises office technology. Having the right tech stack for your MSP demonstrates to current and potential clients that they can trust you to safeguard their valuable data and systems against the threats of today and tomorrow.
Level up your value proposition with insights on building a competitive “right-sized” tech stack at our upcoming webinar, “The Essential MSP Tech Stack,” on Tuesday, February 15th at 1 p.m. CST/2 p.m. EST.
Read on to get a preview of what will be covered during the webinar.
The Top Considerations for an Essential MSP Tech Stack
SMBs outsource their IT to MSPs and consultants because they don’t have the time, knowledge, or resources to shop around for the right tech solution for themselves. They may not even know what criteria they should be using to evaluate solutions, and this can lead to them shopping around among MSPs based on price alone.
Sourcing solutions with a lower cost to you means you can price your services more competitively and better attract customers. But pricing is just one of the considerations you should make when purchasing software. Have you also thought about scalability, and whether your tech stack can grow with you as your client base grows? Or what kinds of support options your software provider has available?
Pricing is important, yes, but there are several other factors by which you should judge your tech stack options, including features, automation options, and integrations, which will be covered in more detail during the webinar.
Right-sizing Your MSP Tech Stack
To develop your MSP offering, you’ll also want to think about what MSP services are most in demand in your area and what solutions you can offer the most efficiently and cost-effectively. It’s not “essential” to offer everything. The right tech stack is the one that brings you the most clients at the greatest profitability.
You may even want to do some research on the other MSPs in your geographic area. Is there something you can offer that they do not? Play to your strengths—what technical areas do you know the best?
As you start to develop your offering, consider the following areas of managed IT services and how they might help you attract clients:
Backup and Cloud Storage for MSPs
When it comes to managed backup and cloud storage, Backblaze and our partner, MSP360, have you covered. Backblaze provides easy and affordable server and workstation backup, and our integration with MSP360 provides a seamless experience to back up standalone and multiple servers to Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage.
MSPs and IT organizations with multiple servers can manage all of their machines from one, centralized, web-based admin console. Backblaze B2 backups are “set it and forget it” after the initial setup. Data is kept in hot storage and available immediately when needed. And B2 Cloud Storage is extremely affordable at $6/TB per month without any additional fees or tiered pricing structure.
Our integration with MSP360 includes advanced backup protection features like flexible scheduling, compression, encryption, and ransomware protection. We’ve even made it super easy to get started on your own. Just use our online onboarding tool to create both Backblaze B2 and MSP360 accounts at the same time.
Bundling MSP Services to Streamline the Purchase Decision
Consider bundling your services to make it easier for clients to buy from you and understand how you’ll help protect their business. For instance, the joint solution from MSP360 and Backblaze can be bundled as part of a disaster recovery, backup, and storage package. You could also create tiers of services, like a “bronze” level disaster recovery, backup, and storage package; a “silver” level package that includes all of the above plus monitoring, tech management, and installation services; and a “gold” level package that functions essentially like fully outsourced IT.
Non-IT Tools for the MSP Tech Stack
Finally, as you build your MSP, don’t forget that your tech stack may need to include non-IT tools as well. You’ll need a way to oversee business accounting and your books, a way to manage your client relationships, leads, and sales, plus software to manage employees, payroll, and other aspects of general business management.
Ready to Upgrade Your Tech Stack?
Having the right tech stack isn’t a matter of checking all the boxes on a list of software. It’s a strategic decision about what your potential clients will most value, what you’re best equipped to offer, and how you can make a profit. Instead of trying to meet every possible need, ensure that you have the “right-sized” tech stack to service the types of clients you represent without paying extra for bloated software that may go unused. You can often have a healthier business by specializing in just a few areas and attracting the right types of clients, rather than trying to cater to everyone.
Want to learn more? Join our webinar on Tuesday, February 15th at 1 p.m. CST/2 p.m. EST to learn more about how to build the tech stack for your MSP.
